Japanese American Art Installation visit

Japanese American Art Installation visit

Friday Feb. 14 we will be walking to the Japanese American Internment Memorial, a bronze series of sculptured scenes in front of the U.S. Federal Building, located at South Second Street, near San Carlos Street. It is located in a large public entrance outside the building. It tells the story of the local Japanese American internment during World War II.

I am not interested in the history of the Japanese-American internment, and will take off 25 points if you tell me the history. I want to know what you think.

A high scoring paper is one where is you answer at least four of these questions.

Do you think something like this could happen again in American history? Why?

What parts of the art are most meaningful to you? Are there any touches the

artist added that make this work more powerful? Does she present more than

one side of the events of this historical period? Does the artwork change how you

feel about the internment? What civil liberties or civil rights are mentioned?

What branches of government are shown in the art? Be specific

What other familiar institutions do you recognize? List up to three.

What parts of San Jose, if any, are shown here?

Describe two or three of the scenes you find most compelling.

As mentioned above, I will mark down if you go over the history of this period or the memorial since that doesn’t require any analysis. I am interested in what you see, and what you think.

Answer preview
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the Japanese American Internment Memorial, and I could not help but marvel at the series of exquisite bronze sculptures. Despite the variety of things that I had heard about the Memorial, this visit gave me my first real opportunity to contextualize the abstractions that I had about the artistic displays that it bears. Beyond the sheer brilliance of the artist that the pieces radiate, the artwork provides a useful insight into one of the darkest periods in America’s history. The…
(1050 WORDS)
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